Description

C/U of electric light bulbs moving slowly along on a conveyor belt at the Osram factory in Wembley, Middlesex. C/Us of tungsten (metal) powder being measured out and weighed, then a man shakes it into a mould and spreads it out evenly. M/S as he takes a metal bar and presses down on the powder, then puts the whole mould into an oven-type machine and pulls a grill down over it - this is the press. C/Us of the bars after pressing (or 'sintering'), then the furnace door as a tungsten bar is inserted and a heated one is pulled out.

C/Us as heated bar is put into the swaging hammers machine (it heats and hammers the bars on all sides); a red hot one is pulled out, rotated and reinserted. Various M/Ss and C/Us as the bars go through swaging machines; the process makes the bars thinner and thinner - C/U of the bar coming through a machine having been stretched to a long, very thin filament wire, and being coiled around a drum. C/Us of the filament components being rolled out by hand ready to be fed into the machine. High angle M/S of the filament assembly machine; a woman operator feeds components into it.

M/S and C/U of a part of the machine that seals the base of the filament, panning right to show holes being blown in the base of the filament section. M/Ss of the bulbs being washed from the inside and over the shoulder of a woman operator as she puts the filaments in place to be picked up by the machine. C/U of the filaments being placed in position by the machine, panning right to show the bulbs being placed over the filaments. M/S of the woman standing at the machine then C/U of bulbs spinning round with excess glass at the base being burned off.

M/S over the shoulders of two women as they fix the bases to the bulbs and stick them on a revolving turntable. C/U of a woman's hands attaching the bases as bulbs and bases pass before her on two separate conveyor belts. M/S of a woman testing the finished bulbs by screwing them onto a conveyor belt where they light up.
Note: print used for transfer is quite badly scratched; neg does not contain full issue. There is documentation on file - technical notes on making of light bulbs.